a bleeding purple utah jazz blog

Game 56 vs. ATL: +1 for the Warrior lineup

On Sunday, desnews publishes “Jazz have been fortunate” about how lucky the Jazz have been with injuries this year, while sltrib publishes “Jazz benefit from being the picture of health.”

What happens? Within hours, AK goes down with back spasms in Portland, and we were without AK or Deron (quad contusion) against the Hawks tonight. Good going, Utah papers. When you get a spare moment, please review SLC Dunk’s Jinxing Guidelines. For real. I’m serious.

Onto the game recap:

I don’t believe in moral victories, nor can I find happiness in losses (I also don’t believe in a bunch of 25-year olds being too tired to play a game of basketball just because they didn’t get eight hours of sleep in their own beds, but moving on). I do, however, have to give it up to our “Golden State Warriors” lineup, i.e. rookies, undrafted players, former D-Leaguers, and second-round draft picks. The veterans couldn’t get jack going, but our lineup of Fes/Sap/Ceejay/KK/Yatta sure kept it close. They were the ones that came to play, the ones that made stuff happen, and the ones that were fun to watch.

Like I said, the veteran starters couldn’t do a damned thing. Meanwhile, Sap was like a jump start–every time he entered the game, the Jazz went on a run. The aforementioned Warrior lineup started the second quarter, and in their 7 minutes on the floor, they produced a +12-point swing, giving the Jazz an 8-point lead. I can understand why Jerry went with the older guys down the stretch, but the way Fes and Yatta were playing, I think they should have been on the court instead of Boozer and CJ at the very end. After all, that’s the kind of gamble that won us the Cleveland game, right?

Finally, is it just me, or does Mike Woodson look like a black Ronald McDonald?

Oh hey, speaking of clowns, here’s your idiotic KFAN quote of the day, courtesy of either Bagley or the other guy:

“When my baby was born, I couldn’t get back to work fast enough…That’s what mother-in-laws are for.” [Other guy chortles]